Does choices better than any other game
I have honestly never cared so much about my choices in a video game. Usually killing someone is what you do in just about every playable moment in any other game, but here, you get to know the characters. The main idea isn't to kill everyone in sight; the idea is to make sure nothing happens to one of the four main characters you control. The part of the game to which I am referring is a scene where Ethan Mars (or rather, you) have to chose whether or not to let someone live. I had to pause the game and think about it. For ten minutes, and even afterward I felt a little sick. To compare to another choice heavy game, Mass Effect 2, I never thought twice about a Renegade interrupt. if it was cool or funny, I did it. But here, I had to think about everything I did because the effect could be detrimental to all the characters solving the mystery of the Origami Killer.
The game looks fantastic as well as making you feel as if the various characters are extensions of you. Facial animation rarely hiccups, but I did find Madison Paige's face and the teeth of various characters a little distracting. However these complaints are minuscule compared to the rest of the technical aspects of the game. Environments sometimes look a bit too clean. I know that's a weird nit-picky complaint, but it seems strange that a man with two children can keep his house so completely pristine. Like I said, tiny complaints.
Game play is the part of the game that will really divide people. On the surface, it appears to be a really long quick-time event. This is not the case. At least, it doesn't feel like it. This is mostly due to the fact that you can fail a button press and the scene adapts and continues. In short, you can lose and the game continues. You can even die, and the game continues without that character. You can chose not to save certain characters in the game, and the story adapts. The fact that anyone could die or get hurt at any moment makes every scene in the game taught, and I was literally on the edge of my seat. The sixaxis controls are extremely well implemented; however, there was one time where the game told me to push the controller down, but I had the controller down already, so I had to pick it up, then push it down, and the game read that I just picked it up. This only happened to me once though, but it did kill me.
In short, the game is polarizing. I'm not sure it will sell consoles, but if you own a PS3, and you want something different, then this is the game for you. If you liked Indigo Prophecies, you will love this game. It one ups everything from Indigo Prophecy. It is a game I do not recommend that anyone miss, but I know not everyone will like it.
